The Dock Diaries: Si & Matt Meet Magento
We saw Meet Magento advertised on Thursday, booked it on Friday, and were in London first thing Tuesday morning. Talk about last minute.
Our plan was to catch the ‘Technical Track’ talks, learn more about Magento (eCommerce software now known as Adobe Commerce), and come away with new tricks and tools to try back at Dock HQ.
Did it happen? Well, kind of. Here’s how our technical developer Si and mid-Dev Matt got on in London.
A Hyvä-Shaped Hole
One reason for attending the event was to learn more about Hyvä - a front-end framework we’re using to develop a new theme for Killer Ink. We were expecting a talk or at least a stand. Unfortunately, there was neither. Which sucked. But still, it wasn’t a total loss.
Where the Value Was
Hypernode & Zero Downtime Deployments
Hypernode’s Alejandro Garza kicked off the morning session with a solid talk on deployment strategy. A key takeaway was learning how to install updates with zero downtime, using symlinks and folder switching. At the moment, our sites go down for a few minutes during early morning updates.
The zero downtime method would let us update live, without users encountering a ‘site under maintenance’ message. It’s a more professional workflow (considering everyone expects websites to always be at peak performance) and one we’ll look at implementing.
Rethinking Page Speed: Lighthouse vs Core Web Vitals
Another highlight came immediately after lunch when Karlijn Lowik from RumVision challenged the obsession with perfect Lighthouse scores. She pointed out that these scores are based on your device, screen, and internet speed. Core Web Vitals, on the other hand, reflect what actual users experience—those that aren’t using developer-optimised tools and three monitors.
We realised we’ve been judging performance by our own standards, not the end user’s. It was a nice reminder that real-world performance matters more than vanity metrics.
Design for All: The Accessibility Wake-Up Call
One session that stuck with us was “Why Accessibility Matters and How to Actually Use It”. We learned that there’s a chronic lack of accessibility online—around 90% of websites can’t be correctly read by screen readers. That stat alone is enough to make you stop and reassess what “good” design really means.
The talk highlighted the barriers disabled users face and made a compelling case for inclusive design from the ground up. There was also a strong business argument for accessibility. The so-called “purple pound” (the global spending power of people with disabilities) is larger than Germany’s GDP. Yet, most businesses ignore it.
This hit home for us. There’s a lot to be said for doing the right thing, and accessible design makes sense ethically and practically. We’ve started rolling out accessibility monitoring across our sites, and it’s something we intend to take seriously as part of our daily development work.
Where We Were Left Wanting
AI Panel: ChatGPT is…Fine?
A panel featuring speakers from Adobe, Bright, and JLR discussed AI. The general message was, “Use it, but don’t rely on it.” It was nothing groundbreaking, though it did reinforce something we’ve long known—copying and pasting code without understanding it never ends well.
Magento’s New Front End: Big on Promise, Light on Detail
Adobe Commerce’s Jonathan Baxendale previewed a new front-end product called Commerce Optimizer, a plug-and-play replacement for Magento’s current theme. But we didn’t see a single line of setup or technical detail. The session was more a teaser than a tutorial. It’s one to watch down the line rather than dive straight into.
TED Talk Tangents and a Hyvä at last.
A few sessions, including the closing keynote, went full American seminar mode: big hand gestures, childhood anecdotes, analogies about growing trees. Nicole Donnelly’s five-step “Moxie Method” felt more suited to a LinkedIn inspo post than the seminar’s Technical Track.
Let’s just say we swerved the pizza party and headed for the train home instead. But not before we tracked down John Hughes from Hyvä (hurrah!) for a natter about better ways to generate web themes.
Dear Diary
Some talks were brilliant. Some were baffling. Others were sales pitches dressed as insights. But as well as the freebies (Matt nabbed some t-shirts, Si was delighted with a Tony’s Chocolonely), we left with a better sense of where Dock stands in the Magento world. It turns out we’re in a good place. The day confirmed we’re already doing plenty right and gave us a few areas to improve.
While Matt soaked it all in, Si filtered it through experience and lemon drizzle cake. And even though some sessions lacked substance, we left with tools to test, features to improve, and a few reasons to say yes to the next event.
Maybe it will be with the right ticket home next time. Because after a long day of listening to talks, a tired, tube-rattled Si managed to get on the wrong train. Luckily, the conductor was sound. There was even time for a Wing Stop, too.
